Gate self-advancing support

ABSTRACT

In mining excavations a gate automatically advancing support which is shiftable, by a simple operation simultaneously with the shift of a conveyor is provided. There are a plurality of support members for supporting the roof between the front and rear ends of the drive unit on the gate side of the gate road; said plurality of support members each consist of a front and a rear support, both of which are separately formed; these front and rear supports each have roof bars which are connected through couplings; said front and rear supports including roof bars are adopted to be simultaneously advanced by the actuation of shifters; a link mechanism connecting roof bars and a skid of each support controls the motion of said roof bars and skid; and the front supports of respective support members hold a skid of a charge conveyor therebetween, so that the gate self-advancing support is shifted in a desired direction, and the adjustment of the advancing direction of the support is not required.

[ Dec. 24, 1974 nited States atent [r91 Nakajima GATE SELF-ADVANCING SUPPORT [57] ABSTRACT In mining excavations a gate automatically advancing support which is shiftable, by a simple operation simultaneously with the shift of a conveyor is provided. There are a plurality of support members for supporting the roof between the front and rear ends of the drive unit on the gate side of the gate road; said plurality of support members each consist of a front and a rear support, both of which are separately formed; these front and rear supports each have roof bars which are connected through couplings; said front and rear supports including roof bars are adopted to be simultaneously advanced by the actuation of shifters; a link mechanism connecting roof bars and a skid of each support controls the motion of said roof bars and 603 6 20 2 1 1 n [3 a/ a co 2 l 8 WM dB J L n9 a 9 "I 7 m 0 h C 4 S g 8 u n 1 54 K .I 6 42 .m H d a M n 6 e .m 1 m n J a 3 C a 0 a 7 u u u k C D. 9 u u Na M 1 u n C 0 9 H 0 y 2 m n n u m 0 l 0 r. e y e .w b 2 n h d h a 0 e 3 n C R S TT F 3 m m .n m M E e 0 h m m N m m .W d d v o. S M m A F A UmF U H T 1 H M Q 7 7 2 2 555 5 .l l l. l. .llzl l. n W

skid; and the front supports of respective support members hold a skid of a charge conveyor therebetween, so that the gate self-advancing support is UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1959 shifted in a desired direction, and the adjustment of the advancing direction of the support is not required.

S N m m mm mm 11W WuMA WmLR 5 mwwm aOON BRC T 0A P MN m E Germany 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Primary ExammerDenn1s L Taylor Attorney, Agent, or Firm-George B. Oujevolk GATE SELF-ADVANCING SUPPORT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a self advancing sup port in mining excavations and more particularly to a self-advancing support used at the gate side of the excavation.

BRIEF REVIEW OF THE PRIoR ART Conventionally, the self-advancing support is well known inside the coal face, but at the gate side, the use of the support has been difficult because of the return section of the gate conveyor and because the drive unit on the gate side is projected into the waste side.

The object of this invention is to provide a gate selfadvancing support for resolving the above defect of the conventional support, reducing the cost and simplifying 1 the operation, by providing an arrangement wherein achieved by changes and modifications and combinations in construction, and this invention will be apparent from the descriptions of an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. lis a perspective overall view of the apparatus showing, in assembling, a self-advancing support, a charge conveyor, and a face conveyor drive unit on the gate side; i

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a skid of the charge conveyor;

' FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the gate self-advancing support, without the skid of the charge conveyor and the face conveyor drive unit on the gate side;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the support members of the gate self-advancing support;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another support member of the same and,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of third support member of the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The gate self-advancing support of this invention comprises three support members consisting of a first support A, a second support B and a third support C, seen from the opposite side of the face; each support member including a front support and a rear support:

Shown at l is a face conveyor, operated by a drive unit 2 on the gate side, above of which, rear supports 3, 4 and 5 of respective support members A, B and C are disposed, and front supports 6, 7 and 8 of respective support members A, B and C are positioned.

There is also a charge conveyor 9 having one end positioned crosswise beneath the front portion of the face conveyor 1. Coal advanced by said face conveyor 1 is turned in its direction of travel by a separator 10 and discharged onto the chargeconveyor 9, then advanced to a frontwardly located conveyor.

There is a skid 11 for the charge conveyor, under which skids of front supports 6, 7 and 8 are movably located. Said skid ll of the charge conveyor (as shown by FIG. 2) has'a centrally hollowed-out portion extending from the vicinity of the portion where the skids of front supports 6, 7 and 8 are located upto a return portion of the charge conveyor (as shown in FIG. 1), said centrally excavated portion being adopted to house the charge conveyor 9. The face conveyor 1 rests crosswise on the return portion of the charge conveyor 9. One part of the charge conveyor 9 which is positioned under the face conveyor 1 is completely housed within the excavated portion of skid 11, while the other portion rises frontwardly of the apparatus to thereby form a slight slope. Accordingly, there is no fear of contacting between the front supports and the charge conveyor. An enlarged rear portion of skid 11 of the charge conveyor serves as a skid for the drive unit 2 on the gate side as well. Said enlarged rear portion of skid 11 has shifter attaching brackets 12, 12 and 12, to each of which are connected rods of shifters 13, 13 and 13 of the front supports 3, 4 and 5 of respective support members A, B and C. Shown at l4, l4 and 14 are rear support guides integrally formed with the skid l1. Said enlarged rear portion is provided with a circular hole 15, into which coupling means (not shown) provided on the reverse surface of the face conveyor is fitted so as to pro vide a coupling between the face conveyor and the skid ll of the charge conveyor.

The following is the explanation for individual support member A, B and C.

Referring to the support member A (FIG. 4), the rear support is identical in shape with the support at the face and includes roof bars 16 and 17, an arch frame 18, iron props 19, 19, 19 and 19, a skid 20 and the shifter 13.

The arch frame is vertically movably coupled to the skid through links 21, 22 and 22. Said arch frame 18 is connected to the roof bar 16 by pins. The roof bars 16 and 17 are rotatably connected to each other, said roof bars 16, 17 having brackets 23 and 24 attached to the reverse face thereof, between which is connected a hydraulic jack 25. The shifter 13 has a cylinder having one end attached to the skid 20 and the other end connected to one of the brackets 12 attached to the rear portion of said skid 11 of the charge conveyor. The front support includes roof bars 26 and 27, iron props 28 and 28, a skid 29 and a shifter 30.

Numerals 31 and 31 are arch frames each having one end connected by using pins with a bracket 32 or 32 attached to the roof bar 26 and the other end coupled through links 34 and 35 to a link 33 or 33 attached to the skid 29. Said skid 29 has guide members 36 and 37 attached thereto and holding one side of the skid 11 of the charge conveyor therebefween, said guide members 36 and 37 being adopted to guide the skid 11 of the charge conveyor at the time of shifting the charge conveyor. And, at the time of advancing the support member A, the skid 29 is guided by the skid 11 of the charge conveyor.

The guide member 36 is provided with a shifter attaching bracket 38, to which a cylinder of shifter 30 is connected. Said shifter 30 has a rod connected to a bracket 39 attached to the skid 11 of the charge conveyor.

Roof bars 17 and 26, and roof bars 26 and 27 are respectively coupled by pins, said roof bars 26 and 27 having brackets 40 and 41 provided at the reverse faces thereof, between which a hydraulic jack 42 is connected.

With such arrangement of the support member A, if both the shifter 13 of the rear support and the shifter 30 of the front support are simultaneously contracted, the support member A is guided by the skid 11 of the charge conveyor to advance in a given direction.

The roof bar 26 is guided by the support member 8, and therefore there is no fear of a lateral turning.

Referring to the support member 8 (FIG. since the rear support is entirely identical to that of the support member A, and no description is made for it.

The front support is composed of roof bars 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47, iron props 48 and 48, a skid 49, shifters 50 and 50 and arch frames 51 and 51.

The adjacently positioned roof bars 17 and 43, 43 and 44, and 44 and 47 are coupled one to the other by pins respectively and the roof bars 44, 45 and 36 are integrally formed.

The roof bars 43 and 44 each have brackets 52 and 53 attached to the reverse face, between which a hydraulic jack 54 is fastened.

Likewise, brackets 55 and 56 are attached on the reverse faces of roof bars 44 and 47, and a hyraulic jack 57 is secured between said brackets 55 and 56.

Attached on the reverse face of girders 58 connecting the roof bars 44, 45 and the roof bars 44, 46 are brackets 59 and 59, to each of which one end of each arch frame 56 or 51 is connected. The other ends of said arch frames 51 and 51 are attached to other ends of links 61, 61 and 62, 62 each having one end connected to link support member 60 or 60 fixed to the skid 49. Said skid 49 has guides 63 and 63 attached thereto, said guides being adopted to guide the skid 11 of the charge conveyor at the time of shifting the charge conveyor, while at the time of advancing the support member B, said skid 49 is guided by the skid 11 of the charge conveyor.

Among the link support members 60 and 60 attached the skid 49, the foremostiy positioned (the side of the face advancing direction) link support members have brackets 64, to each of which the cylinder side of each shifter 50 is attached, and a rod of each shifter 50 is attached to each bracket 65 fixed to the skid 11.

With such arrangement of the support member B, if the shifter 13 of the rear support and the shifters 50 and 50 of the front support are simultaneously contracted, the support member B is caused to advance.

The skid 49 is guided by the guides 63 and 63 along with the skid 11 of the charge conveyor, while the motion of roof bars are regulated by the skid and the link mechanism. It is noted that the roof bars 44 and 45 hold a roof bar 26 of the support member C therebetween, and the roof bars 44 and 46 accommodate the roof bar 26 of the support member A, hence these roof bars being guided to advance to a given direction.

Referring to the support member C (FIG. 6), the rear and front supports are entirely identical to the whole construction of the support member A, and therefore, no description is given. But the remainders which has not been referred to with respect to the support member A, will be given hereunder.

Numeral 66 is a girder integrally formed with the roof bar 26. At the time of advancing the support member B, the roof bar 45 of the support member B is lowered until said bar is brought into contact with said girder 66, and slidingly moved thereon.

The gate self-advancing support of this invention is so arranged as described, and in advancing the support, firstly the charge conveyor 9 and the drive unit on the gate side are shifted, then the shift of the support member B is followed, and finally the support members A and C are advanced.

At the outset, for advancing the charge conveyor 9 and the drive unit 2 on the gate side, the shifters 13, 30 of the support member A, the shifters 13, 50 and 50 of the support member B, and the shifters l3 and 30 of the support member C are all expanded, whereupon the skid 11 of the charge conveyor is guided by the guides of the front supports of respective support members A, B and C to advance to a desired position.

Subsequently, the support member B is advanced by releasing all the iron props of said member B. In this case, the support member B is lowered until the roof bars 45 and 46 are brought into contact with the girders 66 and 66 of the support members A and C. The shifters 13, 50 and 50 of the support member B are contracted to advance the support member B. in advancing the support member B, the skid 49 is guided by the skid l 1 of the charge conveyor and the roof bars of the support member B are guided by the roof bars of the support members A and C, whereas the accuracy of the advancing direction of the support member B is ensured.

After all the shifters being completely contracted, the iron props are tightened, thus the shift of the support member B being completed.

Finally, the support members A and C are shifted. When the iron props of both support members A and C are released in the like manner in the support member B. the roof bars 26 and 26 are lowered until they become contacted with the girders 58 of the support member B. Then, the shifters 13 and 30 are contracted, to thereby advance the support members A and C.

In this case the skids of both support members A and C are guided by the skid of the charge conveyor, and the roof bars of both support members A and C are guided by the roof bars of the support member B. Accordingly, the support members A and C follow to the advancing direction of the support member B. After the shifters are all contracted, the iron props are tightened, thereby completing the shift of the self-advancing support.

Various changes and modifications in details may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention and the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

1. A moveable roof support arrangement for mining comprising:

a. a face conveyor (1) to convey to a front portion thereof, material in a longitudinal direction between the far and near conveyor sides, a charge conveyor (9) having one end positioned crosswise beneath said front portion, said one end extending over to beneath said face conveyor far side and a separator (10) for changing the direction of travel of conveyed material and discharging said material from said face conveyor (1) onto said charge conveyor (9);

b. a main skid (11) under said charge conveyor with a central elongated hollow portion to house said charge conveyor (9) so that said portion of the charge conveyor under said face conveyor (1) is completely housed within said hollow portion and does not contact said face conveyor and rear and front shifter brackets (12, 39) on said main skid;

. at least one rear roof support assembly having teled. at least one front roof support assembly having front telescoping shifter means (30) connected to said front shifter bracket (39), a front skid (29) connected to said front shifter means (39) front links (33) on said front skid (29) front arch frames (31) with a lower end movably connected to said front links (33), a front roof bar (26) having an outer end connected to said front arch frames (31 and a center roof bar (17) pivotally connected said rear and front roof bars (16, 26) whereby said face conveyor (1) and charge conveyor (*9) are held by said main skid (11) between said front and rear roof support assemblies and said roof support can be moved by said shifters.

2. A roof support arrangement as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of front and rear roof support assemblies. 

1. A moveable roof support arrangement for mining comprising: a. a face conveyor (1) to convey to a front portion thereof, material in a longitudinal direction between the far and near conveyor sides, a charge conveyor (9) having one end positioned crosswise beneath said front portion, said one end extending over to beneath said face conveyor far side and a separator (10) for changing the direction of travel of conveyed material and discharging said material from said face conveyor (1) onto said charge conveyor (9); b. a main skid (11) under said charge conveyor with a central elongated hollow portion to house said charge conveyor (9) so that said portion of the charge conveyor under said face conveyor (1) is completely housed within said hollow portion and does not contact said face conveyor and rear and front shifter brackets (12, 39) on said main skid; c. at least one rear roof support assembly having telescoping shifter means (13) connected to said rear shifter brackets (12) a shifter skid (20) connected to said telescoping shifter means (13), links (21) on said shifter skid (20), a rear arch frame (18) with a lower end movably connected to said links (21) a roof bar (16) having an outer end supported and coupled to said rear arch frame (18) and props (19) also supporting said roof bar (16); and, d. at least one front roof support assembly having front telescoping shifter means (30) connected to said front shifter bracket (39), a front skid (29) connected to said front shifter means (39) front links (33) on said front skid (29) front arch frames (31) with a lower end movably connected to said front links (33), a front roof bar (26) having an outer end connected to said front arch frames (31), and a center roof bar (17) pivotally connected said rear and front roof bars (16, 26) whereby said face conveyor (1) and charge conveyor (9) are held by said main skid (11) between said front and rear roof support assemblies and said roof support can be moved by said shifters.
 2. A roof support arrangEment as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of front and rear roof support assemblies. 